In the Time of the Drums - Hardcover

Siegelson, Kim L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786823860 ISBN 13: 9780786823864

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH, 1900

Synopsis

Mentu, an American-born slave boy, watches his beloved grandmother, Twi, lead the insurrection at Teakettle Creek of Ibo people arriving from Africa on a slave ship.

About this title

About the Author:

Brian Pinkney is the illustrator of many acclaimed books for children, including Alvin Ailey, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald. He has received Caldecott Honors for Duke Ellington and The Faithful Friend, and a Coretta Scott King Award for In the Time of the Drums. Brian Pinkney lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and frequent collaborator, Andrea Davis Pinkney, and their children.

From Publishers Weekly:

Siegelsons (The Terrible, Wonderful Tellin at Hog Hammock) lyrical retelling of a Gullah legend seems to pulse in time to the goatskin drums of the Sea Islands, the setting for this haunting tale. Young Mentu lives with his African-born grandmother Twi, an Ibo conjure woman. Though Mentu exhibits a strength beyond his years, Twi cautions him to save his energy: Soon it will be your time to be strong-strong, she says. As the two watch the workers in the fields, Twi tells her grandson how slavery has broken them.... The old ways had slowly slipped away and been left behind like sweat drops in a newly plowed row. One day, a ship arrives, its cargo an entire village of Ibo people; from the hold of the ship, they hear the sound of Twi beating her goatskin drums, and think they have returned home. When they see the foreign shores, however, the Ibos sing words familiar to Twi: Say the water brought em cross the passage and it can take em back, fe true, she translates for Mentu. Working her magic, Twi leads the Ibo people into the water, where, legend has it, they walked all the way back to Africa on the bottom of the ocean. Siegelson subtly lays the groundwork for Twis double meaning, as the grandmother builds a sense of history (it takes a mighty strength not to forget). The parting scene shows Mentu teaching his daughter the songs that Twi taught him. Pinkneys (The Faithful Friend) finely etched art dramatically captures the storys simultaneous sadness and hope, contrasting such images as the ships shadowy hold with a narrow opening of sun-filled sky where Twis drumbeats fill the air, and Twi leading the Ibo people into a swirling, yet smooth sea filled with a spectrum of sherbet-colored hues as their chains melt away. At once magical yet chillingly real, this is a thought-provoking and memorable work. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
• Publication date: 1900
• ISBN 10: 0786823860
• ISBN 13: 9780786823864
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Pinkney Brian